Colin McNulty

Producer, PoetryNow

Colin McNulty grew up in Cleveland, then Chicago, then London, then back to Chicago. He is now a producer for PoetryNow at the WFMT Radio Network.

In 2008, Colin earned a Master’s degree in sociology and media studies at the London School of Economics. He then worked for five years for Whistledown, an independent production company, making radio documentaries for the BBC. He produced two documentaries that won consecutive awards in 2014 and 2015 at the Third Coast International Audio Festival in Chicago. One was an hour-long documentary about the writer William Burroughs, narrated by Iggy Pop. “Burroughs at 100” was aired in its entirety on This American Life in 2015. Ira Glass: “The sheer craft of this documentary was just a thing to behold…I have never heard anything like it. It’s one of the best hours of radio I heard last year, and one of the most original.” The other Third Coast winner was a montage documentary about spacewalking, featuring four astronauts and the Oscar-winning sound editor of the film Gravity. The UK Telegraph: “The documentary remains a timeless thing of utter wonder.”

Colin’s work tends to focus on music, the arts, and society. He also produces religion-focused programs for Heart and Soul on the BBC World Service, with subjects including the clergy sexual abuse crisis in Boston and religious objections to same-sex marriage in Kentucky.

Colin loves meeting a wide range of poets at the Poetry Foundation to talk about their inspirations for their work. He is currently looking into getting a cat.